0 back in the washington, d.c. bureau of cnn. wolf? jake, thanks very much. happening now, we have extraordinary new details about the gunman who killed 12 people at the washington navy yard. police, family and friends, they are painting a picture of a deeply troubled individual who heard voices, felt vibrations, before he apparently snapped. we also are getting new information right now about the weapon. authorities say alexis walked into the navy yard with a shotgun. we are going to tell you where and how he managed to buy that weapon. and a city known for its tough gun laws is now in mourning. amid deep anger over apparent security lapses. i'll speak live in the coming minutes with the washington, d.c. mayor, vincent gray. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. you're in "the situation room." a day after gunfire and sirens echoed in the nation's capital, mourning has begun for the 12 people shot dead at the washington navy yard. today, we finally learned the identities of all of them. we are learning so much more about the man who authorities say walked into the navy yard with a shotgun and quickly began a bloody rampage. that's raising serious questions about security at u.s. military facilities and prompting an urgent review. cnn's brian todd is joining us now. he's been at the scene all day. he's getting new information. what are you learning? >> reporter: wolf, new information tonight about the shooter's emotional problems and about his arrest record, about the misconduct he was cited for in the navy, and how apparently none of it was picked up by the people who gave him his security clearance. based on family accounts, a source with knowledge of the investigation says aaron alexis had trouble sleeping in recent years, was hearing voices in his head. law enforcement sources say he made contact with two v.a. hospitals for psychological issues. a defense department official says alexis had eight instances of misconduct in the navy before his honorable discharge in 2011. police records say he had three arrests between 2004 and 2010, one for disorderly conduct, two for gun-related offenses, including an incident when he fired two shots into the tires of a construction worker's car in seattle. >> an arrest for gun violations should have disqualified him. >> reporter: disqualified him from getting a secret security clearance, according to sheldon cohen, an attorney who specializes in that. cohen and other attorneys say a private firm does background checks on civilian contractors for the government's office of personnel management. opm checks the information, cohen says, then passes it to the defense department. there's one office in d.o.d. that then determines whether someone gets the kind of security clearance alexis had. cohen says somewhere in those three layers, someone dropped the ball. should all of this cumulatively or at least a little piece of it been flagged and been a reason for him not to get that clearance? >> from my experience, he absolutely should not have gotten a clearance. anybody that i have encountered with any kind of, even half of this record, does not get a clearance. >> reporter: we reached out to that pentagon office, the office of personnel management, and a private firm we believe could have done alexis' background check. none of them have commented on alexis's case. investigators, meanwhile, say they're still trying to piece together a motive for why alexis would have shot and killed 12 people at the navy yard. a friend says he had one dispute with the navy over a contracting job in japan late last year. >> he got back and he felt very slighted about his benefits at the time. financial issues, he wasn't getting paid on time, he wasn't getting paid what he was supposed to be getting paid. >> reporter: the ceo of the private contracting firm that alexis worked for says no one at any of his recent contracting jobs had any problems with him, or at least didn't report those problems if they had any. >> the pentagon is about to begin a worldwide investigation into this whole process. what are we learning on that front? >> reporter: we are learning from our barbara starr that from a senior pentagon official that defense secretary chuck hagel intends to order a full and comprehensive review of the physical security and the clearance process at all of the defense department installations worldwide. that announcement should be coming soon. >> i'll be speaking later here in "the situation room" with the chief spokesman for the u.s. navy. we have lots of questions for him. he will join us live in "the situation room." thanks very much. the shooting victims were honored today in a very solemn ceremony at the u.s. navy memorial. the defense secretary chuck hagel joined general martin dempsey. they laid a wreath next to the lone sailor statue. a bugler then played "taps." the senate observed a moment of silence. flags will fly at half staff across the country through friday. beyond the serial disciplinary issues that led to his naval reserve discharge, friends and family members of gunman aaron alexis make it clear he was deeply, deeply troubled. we will hear shortly about his past behavior. cnn national correspondent deborah feyerick has new information about a disturbing incident that occurred, what, just last month. what are you learning? >> reporter: yeah, it happened about six weeks ago. two key pieces of information that we have been able to develop. first, just over six weeks ago, a naval base in newport, rhode island, was contacted by local police who warned them that one of their contractors, aaron alexis, was behaving strangely. second, at the same time in august, alexis reached out to a v.a. facility also in rhode island, at the very same time. newport lieutenant william fitzgerald tells us that on august 7th, alexis called police to his hotel. he had actually switched hotels three times. alexis explained that while traveling from virginia to rhode island, he had gotten into a verbal altercation with a man during his flight. he believed that the man had sent three people to talk to him, keeping him awake, and sending vibrations through his body. alexis told police he had not seen the people but he believed that there were two men and a woman, and that they were quote, using a microwave machine to send vibrations through the ceiling, penetrating his body so he could not sleep, unquote. he told police that he never felt anything like this. he felt the individuals would harm him. he would not tell police specifically what these people who allegedly were harassing him were saying, but he did tell police that he had no history of mental illness in his family, he had never had a mental episode. newport police notified the naval station at 8:30, that's just about two hours after this incident happened, to tell them what had happened, and notify them of the possible implications given alexis' access to the base, and that he was working there as a contractor. newport naval had no comment, they referred us to the fbi in d.c. fbi also not commenting, but a big question as to whether someone at a navy base knew there was a problem with one of their contractors. wolf? >> seems like there was blunder after blunder. we will speak to the chief spokesman for the u.s. navy, got lots of questions for rear admiral john kirby. he will join us live later in "the situation room." thanks very much, deb. the bloody rampage at the navy yard is raising serious questions about security. now as first reported by cnn's barbara starr, the pentagon is confirming that defense secretary chuck hagel is ordering this review of physical security and access at all u.s. military installations worldwide. meanwhile, we're also learning about the mass shooting and the gun battle after aaron alexis entered the navy yard. let's bring in our justice reporter, evan perez, had has been doing excellent reporting. you are learning about what exactly happened in that encounter. >> that's right, wolf. shortly after 8:00, when this all went down at the washington navy yard, about seven minutes after the shooting begins, the washington police, metropolitan police department and other departments, rushed to the scene and within seven minutes, they had begun shooting. there is now a gun battle that starts inside building 197, which is where the victims were shot and killed. the police end up engaging in a running gun battle, essentially, with the suspect, with alexis. he's up on the fourth floor, he's shooting down at the victims, and they start shooting at him as they are going through the building. lasts for about more than 30 minutes according to the police department, and so it takes about all together, probably about 40 minutes for this entire episode to go down. >> he was there with a shotgun, that apparently he purchased legally in virginia. did he have any other weapons as far as we know? >> we know that he purchased a remington 870, a tactical shotgun, it's called. it's fairly well concealable, according to the officials we've spoken to. it's not a very long gun so it's possible some people might have not noticed him. he also is known to have had at least one hand gun that he took from a guard who he shot early in the exchange at building 197. >> we heard from the fbi agent in charge of this investigation, she said there's no indication at least that we know of that he did in fact have this ar-15 assault weapon. >> that's right. that was some of the early information yesterday. the authorities were circulating some of that information internally and we all learned about it, it's now known that perhaps people saw as you know, there were some early witness reports that said there were multiple shooters so apparently some of that information got out incorrectly, as you said. as you know, he's been around in washington for a couple weeks now, so authorities today are trying to piece together where he's been in the last three weeks in washington. >> staying at various hotels with people, sometimes by himself. i'm sure they are going through every step of the way. thanks very much, evan perez, for that good reporting. just ahead, we will hear from friends of the gunman, aaron alexis, who say he gave no indication he was about to set out on a bloody killing spree. and the washington, d.c. mayor, vincent gray, he is here in "the situation room," walking in right now. i will ask him what he knows about these bloody events. we will speak to you in just a moment. uh-oguess what day it is!is?? huh...anybody? julie! hey...guess what day it is?? ah come on, i know you can hear me. mike mike mike mike mike... what day is it mike? ha ha ha ha ha ha! leslie, guess what today is? it's hump day. whoot whoot! ronny, how happy are folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico? i'd say happier than a camel on wednesday. hump day!!! yay!! get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. ugh! actually progresso's soup has pretty bold flavor. i love bold flavors! i'd love it if you'd open the chute! [ male announcer ] progresso. surprisingly bold flavor for a heart healthy soup. nice car. sure is. make a deal with me, kid, and you can have the car and everything that goes along with it. [ thunder crashes, tires squeal ] ♪ ♪ so, what do you say? thanks... but i think i got this. ♪ [ male announcer ] the all-new cla. starting at $29,900.